Uncertainty. It’s the very reason I have a job. Think about it. The entire life insurance industry exists because of uncertainty. Not the uncertainty of death, of course, but the uncertainty of the timing.
And yet most of us try our best to neutralize uncertainty. We crave predictability. We want the world to be the same tomorrow as it is today, yet deep down, we know that it’s possible it won’t. Diseases, natural disasters, wars, accidents, a whole host of things, have the potential to instantaneously become life-altering events.
From the cradle to the grave, uncertainty remains one of life’s constants. There’s no certainty that: the person we ask out on a date will accept, our marriage won’t end in divorce, a loved one doesn’t develop an incurable illness, our business doesn’t go bankrupt, we make it to life expectancy.
And yet we cope. Because the only alternative is mental illness; we will make ourselves crazy if we just focus on the uncertainty. However, the human brain has a coping mechanism that allows us to function relatively normally despite the uncertainty that surrounds us.
There’s no sense fretting about that which we have no control. In fact, worrying can only make it worse. Shakespeare has a great quote on this very topic in his play Julius Caesar when he has Caesar say “Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, it seems to me most strange that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come.
While death will indeed “come when it will come,” that doesn’t mean that we can’t influence its timing. Diet, exercise, meditation, proper sleep, among other things, have all been shown to have positive effects on longevity. They don’t guarantee anything, but they do tend to have a positive influence.
Precautionary steps should also be taken to lessen the financial impact of a premature death. These include having a will drafted, a health care directive, and of course, life insurance. While none of these items will influence the longevity of a person, they can serve to lessen the financial, and maybe emotional, impact of an early death.
So like it or not, uncertainty will always be a part of our lives. But that doesn’t mean it has to ruin our lives. We need only address those things that are within our control, and by doing so, can rest knowing we did all we could.